Rose Red (An Avengers Fanfiction)

19

"This isn't like her." Steve said as he tried to contact Maya.

All he was getting was static.

It had been at least a day after the horde of not so dead zombies. Once again New York was a mess and it wasn't Loki's fault.

Everyone else had reported in after except for a certain short haired girl.

"No shit." Tony said looking down at the computer screen. "No sign of her. You don't think that...maybe..you know......."

"No." Natasha said. "She made it clear that she wanted to remain on this team. Maya wouldn't do that. She would know that SHIELD would be on her trail in a matter time. This is too coincidental."

"I say she just ran off. Not surprising," Tony said as he ran the scans one more time. A pesky little voice in his head told him that it might be his fault. It took a lot of effort to squash that guilt like a grape.

"At least give her the benefit of the doubt," Steve snapped. "We can't assume anything till we found her."

"Stop saying that!" Stark groaned. "How many times are we gonna give her the benefit of the doubt?"

"I'm going to agree with Tony, Captain. Her past is very shrouded. Who knows what crimes she could have committed?" Thor saw Steve's disappointed look and averted his eyes. "It isn't as if I dislike Lady Maya. She has warriors spirit and is a respectable person but we know so little about her."

"As much as it pains me, I'm going to have to agree with Thor. We don't know anything about her." Loki said without any remorse in his voice. "At least with me you know what I did."

"That is surprising coming from you, Loki." Thor raised his eyebrow. "I thought you were friends."

"Were not friends, Thor."

"Still, this reeks of something," Bucky said from his corner seat.

The Avengers lapsed into a silence. So far Tony, Thor and Loki didn't think that Maya was innocent. Natasha, Clint and Steve thought that something had happened to her. Bruce was working furiously trying to pick up any small transmissions from her comm before it was destroyed. The rest were following up on any potential leads.

Avenger or not, Maya was a security risk for both the Avengers and SHIELD.

"We know that she was placed on the team because somebody was after her. This was a perfect opportunity!" Clint protested. He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Look. She was cut off from us. Totally isolated. Whoever took her waited and then made their move. They took off her bracelets. They knew that we'd track her."

"The comm was destroyed," Vision said to himself. "The bracelets couldn't be taken off, however. Only someone with a level eight clearance can remove those cuffs."

"Or she could have destroyed it herself," Wanda pointed out. "She has physically taken them off, no?"

"That was once." Bucky said. "In that mission in Canada."

"Was there any blood where we found the comm unit?" Clint asked. "Any signs of struggle or anything else?"

"We found some blood splatters on the pavement and what we think are aviation fuel." Bruce said. "We don't know if it's hers or not. I'm still waiting for the results."

"But it makes no sense for her wanting to leave. Didn't she need out protection?" Pietro asked, looking at Natasha and then at Tony.

"I think that someone took her before we could get to her," Natasha said as she pulled off his headphone. "Listen to this."

"I'm here...... home, Maya. Father ........see..."

The sound was patchy and staticky, it was almost impossible to hear what they were saying.

That was an unfamiliar voice but distinctly male.

'I don't.....want....to, I'd rather.......die. I...can't go....back."

That was Maya.

"Worm....father..........good......"

The voices cut out making it difficult to understand what was going. Someone had jammed her communications before confronting her. It was obvious but that didn't prove her innocence.

The Avengers didn't exactly know what to do.

"Okay," Tony pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "We'll tell SHIELD about this. Let them handle it."

"That's it?" Steve asked incredulously. "We're not gonna help her?"

"What do you want me to do?! You don't have information on her. You don't know how much of a body count she racked up and you wanna go save her? Look, we can't just ignore the fact that she's a complete ghost. Maybe she was playing us," Tony reasoned. "C'mon, Natasha! Clint! You should agree with me at least."

"She's still an Avenger, Stark! Don't forget that fact!" Clint said.

"Shut it, Katniss!" He growled back. "I'm sorry I can't give you happy sappy reason that we can find her and that she's not a terrible human being but guess what? She is!"

"You don't know that!" Natasha glared at Tony dangerously.

"Oh, yeah! Like we knew with you, Romanoff!"

"That's uncalled for, Tony!" Clint yelled. "Not cool, man!"

The tension was rising dangerously in the room.

"I have proof, Barton!"

"You don't have shit, Stark!"

"That's enough!" Steve said in a harsh tone. He sent each one a disappointed look. "Maya may be someone that we don't know and we can't just judge her based on the fact that her background is a bit dark-"

"That's an understatement," Pietro said sarcastically.

Steve ignored him and continued. "---But let's figure out what we can about her, that's all I'm saying. Then we decide if we go after her or not."

"I'll conduct a thorough search through the databases and look for Miss Maya," Vision offered.

"I guess that Wanda and I will search the city for her," Pietro said. "Again."

"Bucky and Sam, search her room," Tony ordered. He saw Steve about to protest but stopped him. "I don't care, we gotta do what we gotta do."

"Tony, let's see those files." Natasha said getting out of the chair.

"Alright, team!" Tony sardonically said as he cracked his knuckles. "Time to show you you all the skeletons in the closet."

A/N: Who do you agree with? Steve or Tony? Who has the valid point? Comment below and let me know.